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How to determine the company size category

Step 2

The second step is to determine the reference year(s) for the establishment of financial and headcount data of an enterprise, in accordance with Article 4 of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC.

The starting point is the year of the concrete submission (registration, update of registration, notification etc.) in the REACH-IT system. The data to apply to the headcount of staff and the financial amounts are generally those relating to the latest approved accounting period and calculated on an annual basis.

In the case of newly established enterprises whose accounts have not yet been approved, the data to apply is to be derived from a bona fide estimate made in the course of the financial year.

Example

With respect to the various possible dates of closure (year end) of the accounts, please find below an example showing the correct years of reference in a case where the submission in REACH-IT is done on 6 August 2011.

Year end

Correct years of reference

31 December

31/12/2009

31/12/2010

31 July

31/07/2010

31/07/2011

31 August

31/08/2009

31/08/2010

The dates given above are purely illustrative and do not cover all possible variations.

The size category of the company may, however, change over the course of years. Remember that in this case the following applies:

Where, at the date of closure of the accounts, an enterprise finds that on an annual basis, it has exceeded or fallen below the headcount or financial ceilings related to the final size categories, this will not result in the loss or acquisition of the status of medium-sized, small or micro enterprise unless those ceilings are exceeded over two consecutive accounting periods.